Ladies Sing The Blues April 5

Ladies Sing the Blues April 5

When:
April 5, 2016 @ 7:30 pm
2016-04-05T19:30:00-04:00
2016-04-05T20:00:00-04:00
Cost:
Free
Ladies Sing the Blues April 5

Scenes through the Cinema Lens

Ladies Sing the Blues

Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at 7:30PM; Free

The first great blues artist to appear on film was Bessie Smith. In an amazing short film from 1929, St. Louis Blues, she plays a rejected, brutalized woman who has lost her man. In one scene, she leans on a bar at a nightclub and sings the blues over a mug of beer. Although the film attempts to portray her as a “primitive” woman who expresses herself without thinking about her music, she turned her performance into a tour de force. When she sings “St. Louis Blues,” she exhibits all of her talents as an artist. Many female singers have followed her in bringing a unique artistry to the performance of the blues. We will look at great blues singing by Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter, Abbey Lincoln, Anita O’Day, and a few surprises.

“Scenes through the Cinema Lens”  is a film retrospective focusing on the performing arts curated by Krin Gabbard, professor of Comparative Literature and English at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and author of Hotter Than That: The Trumpet, Jazz, and American Culture. Viewing includes an informal Q&A.